|
Aggressive pricing posted:I just got a two month old heinz57* a few days ago. I got him with a small supply of science puppy diet, but after researching it a bit and reading the thread I want something better, and would love some recomendations. I don't have enough left to do a proper gradual transition, but I was told he switched from mystery sheep farmer food to science without any problems, so I think I might be able to get away with a straight switch, but I'd rather not risk diarrhea at 3am. Any thoughts? If there is one thing I pride myself on, it's science, and as of yet, you have yet to provide a source for that "adorable" claim post picture In this case, your best chance of avoiding nuclear butt is to buy another small bag of Science Diet to use to do a nice, slow transition to new food. Many of the "premium" diets can be very rich, and so cold switches from a diet like Science Diet can be... difficult. As far as recommended diets, I recommend Wellness, Innova products (EVO, California Naturals... the wet foods.... they had some dry food production issues recently), Orijen... Taste of the Wild (though I'm not a big fan of how many varied protein sources they put in, it's still a good food). Remember to make sure to check for the AAFCO statement of "all life stages" or "for growth." Tested is best, formulated for is fine.
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2013 03:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 15, 2024 16:15 |
|
|
pocket pool posted:Does anyone have an opinion on Dog Food Advisor? I've been feeding my 3-year-old Wheaten Natural Balance LID Sweet Potato & Bison Grain Free food since we got him as a puppy and I was kind of surprised to see it rated so poorly on the site. Dog Food Advisor should be called "Buzz word dog food advisor." They hate grains, think that pro and pre biotics are amazing and should be in everything, have problems with things maybe being genetically modified, and a bunch of other problems. I don't use them, they're heavily biased to the "premium or die" mindset and push people to not taking prescription diets with as much hate as they throw on ingredients even though they always have the "use prescription diets yay" phrase that for some reason removes them from responsibility.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2014 21:48
|
|
|
The holistic supplement dealer actually buys us more lunches and sends more free stuff than Purina/Hills/Iams/Royal Canin combined, and we sell all those diets.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 11, 2014 21:24
|
|
|
Kickbacks being a no-no is even stated in the Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics with the AVMA! https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Principles-of-Veterinary-Medical-Ethics-of-the-AVMA.aspx Section V. Edit: I am a vet, so that's where my experience in this comes. HelloSailorSign fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Jan 12, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2014 00:22
|
|
|
Spermy Smurf posted:I have been thoroughly humbled. Hey, you've got reasons to think so, dont feel bad. It's a very common thing for people to believe, and a lot of vets are very touchy about being accused of it because it leads to people not taking RX diets and questioning our ethics (and the fact that 99% of people in vet med aren't doing the job for money even though we should be trying to get more money with our crippling school debt). Heck, a few days ago a client declined a RX diet I recommended because they didn't like the ingredients. Even after explaining the reason why, they still didn't take it, and are using a sub-par (and in some cases contraindicated) diet for the disease I'm trying to treat for. Now, there are unethical people in every field, but there aren't that many in vet med - they don't last long.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2014 01:58
|
|
|
Dr. Chaco posted:Actually, that guy came back two days later for the RX food. Made me super happy.  And why you tell me this in SA Nutrition Thread, of all places.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2014 04:27
|
|
|
spregalia posted:These are my kittens: Chewie (front) and Cricket (rear): Unfortunately there really isn't. There are some "premium" brands out there that make "urinary health" foods but have never done testing on them to even see if they work. I've had patients switch over to have their issue flare again - Wysong is the worst culprit of this. The problem is that the testing necessary to prove that the diets do what they're supposed to costs money, which many of these smaller companies aren't willing to do. For the prescription diets, unfortunately we're limited to Hill's, Royal Canin, Iams, Purina, and maybe one or two others.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 14, 2014 18:38
|
|
|
She may also learn that if she holds out that she'll get the good stuff, as in, she has your dad trained. Dogs generally won't starve themselves to death if there's food available.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 20, 2014 20:55
|
|
|
 Recall alert!So uh, I've never actually heard of this food before. Apparently there's the risk of salmonella. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm384876.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery Foods recalled are some from the "Hubbard Life," "Joy Combo," and "QC Plus" lines of food.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 7, 2014 07:09
|
|
|
Totally Normal posted:Is there an accepted cat treat that isn't temptations (cat has an allergy to it)? I'm looking for one that will make my cat go fuckin' nuts because it's so good. I will accept the answer of "you just gotta try a bunch and see what works" but also looking for recommendations. What is the allergy to? If you don't know the exact cause, which Temptation flavor was it?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2014 16:48
|
|
|
Totally Normal posted:I don't know the exact ingredient which caused it, but the vet said that it's occasionally the cause. When the fur fell out in patches the only change we had made in the previous months was adding cat treats to his diet. When we stopped feeding him temptations, his bald patches grew back within 2-3 weeks. That's a pretty good correlation, and for food allergies, that's sometimes the best we get. For any new treat, just make sure it doesn't contain chicken, corn, rice, or wheat (protein ingredients of the treats). Oddly enough, the tuna variety has merely "tuna flavor" which may or may not actually contain tuna protein. Unfortunately, there are "meat" categories which could be any number of other sources. If your cat's current diet already has any of the four ingredients above and you're not seeing reaction, then they're probably not sensitive to that ingredient and the list of "what are we sensitive to" decreases.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 13, 2014 07:52
|
|
|
Crooked Booty posted:My own dog was underweight for a while (eating about 1600 calories per day according to the bag), and when I switched to a totally different food, he gained 10 lbs in about 2 weeks (eating about 900 calories per day according to the bag). It's not a mystery, you're a vet student, your pets will have strange medical problems.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 15, 2014 07:36
|
|
|
Disharmony posted:Zooey will turn 2 months old tomorrow and she looks "small" for her age (or so I think) which can be chalked to her previous owner feeding 6 of them on a bowl of (ugh) Pedigree. Sadly we are using that same brand for now just to ease up her transition to her new home and once we're done with the bag we're looking to obviously help her catch up a bit food-wise. Both brands are fine. Flip a coin, pick the one that's cheaper, pick Acana because the name is funny, whatever. For now, whichever food you pick make sure it has an AAFCO statement for "all life stages" or "growth." If she is distinctly smaller than her litter mates I would be more concerned about her being a runt and having other problems going on than the food. People seem to forget that the cheaper lower-quality foods are far, far more often fed to dogs and many are procreating and growing just fine (like my city's stray Pit-thing population fed on Ol' Roy and Beneful  )based on some crude math and info that Beneful sold about $1 Bil worth in a year, that's 22 million or so bags at $45 a pop - that still winds up to several million pets eating that food - and that is just one of the poo poo foods. Sure, she could have some issues digesting food (but without diarrhea, ehhhh) but who knows? She also may not have been pushy enough so didn't get enough to eat, maybe Mom didn't get the best to eat during pregnancy so maybe they were smaller there... who knows? Compare to litter mates for conclusions, imo, as variation across litters can, well, vary.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2014 05:23
|
|
|
Dr. Chaco posted:If your cats are reacting poorly to the new ingredient/formula, switching would be perfectly reasonable. If you really want to avoid "fillers" you'll have to switch to wet food, because kibble, by definition and regardless of brand, is meat held together with carbohydrates (ie, grains, starch, and other "fillers"). How else can you make meat into a cracker? What do you think "Chicken in a Biscuit" is? Geez.  Account McAccount posted:(Stuff about recalls) Lots of companies have bad things happen. It all depends on how they respond and move forward. I agree that two recalls close to one another is something to keep an eye on, but there have been significant recalls of other premium labeled foods that don't earn them the same ire yet were vastly more troubling than Salmonella. Blue Buffalo and Solid Gold are the ones that come to mind on our list, Evanger's (which is poor on ours but very high on others) is another. They've been much better since their events, but just because they had their events doesn't mean they're bad. However I will always stick by "Evangers is bad and terrible for always."
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2014 18:24
|
|
|
So apparently Purina and Blue Buffalo are getting into a little shitfight with Purina saying Blue Buffalo uses chicken and corn in their diets when they say they don't, and Blue Buffalo saying nuh-uh!
|
|
#
¿
May 8, 2014 00:39
|
|
|
Eh, raw can be good for some animals, but unless you are not happy with the state of his coat, poop, energy, or anything else on current diet there is not a huge difference between raw and canned in terms of benefits.
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2014 05:12
|
|
|
An update to the ongoing jerky treat investigations! On May 16th, the FDA put out a report stating that recent tests had identified DEET (the insect repellent) and amantadine (most commonly used as an antiviral medication) in the treats! http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm397713.htm Now, neither of these things should cause the more common clinical signs, so the exact cause remains elusive. However, the FDA is now saying, "This poo poo's contaminated, God knows with what else, the Chinese say they're concerned though." I for one expect complete compliance by the Chinese authorities and expect good progrhahahahahah who am I kidding.
|
|
#
¿
May 22, 2014 07:06
|
|
|
Recall alert! Hill's has put out a recall due to Salmonella in Small Adult and Toy Breed food in California, Hawaii, and Nevada. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm399662.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2014 21:54
|
|
|
Daily Forecast posted:A cat food I haven't seen discussed much (or at all) in this thread is the Trader Joe's store brand food. Here's an image of the ingredients because gently caress if I'm typing all that up. Looks just fine to me. Not the best, but I would put it better than average, though I haven't seen the nutrient breakdown. Some people have an issue with the ambiguity of "animal liver" or "ocean fish" but meh.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2014 01:46
|
|
|
I mean, organic free range whatever sounds fine. Thing is, I don't see nutrient balancing (minerals etc.) and no AAFCO statement of nutrient completeness. I don't know why a cat would need bee pollen. On the website however, is where you find the gold: "Feed only when completely thawed, never feed frozen food to your pet as this will be very hard for your pet to digest." Or, you know, it equalizes in body temperature when it hits the stomach and becomes just as digestible? "Take extra care to monitor your companion, making sure that their behavioral patterns and stool are normal. If there is a little blood in their stool, this is no cause for alarm, it’s an indication that a detoxification process is occurring...If blood is profuse or continues for more than 5 days, please discontinue the transition." Detoxification? Dear God, they're crazy. Blood normal in feces? If it's bad stop it... but you know, call us, not those crazy vets because they don't deal with blood coming from the butt as that's detoxification. "Studies have shown that raw fed cats suffer from fewer diseases, live longer, and even look better than cats fed canned or other processed foods. (One study showed that after feeding a group of cats processed foods for just a couple of generations they lost the ability to reproduce. Yikes.)"  ... uh those studies don't exist. Also why are there huge feral cat colonies fed a steady stream of Meow Mix?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2014 05:35
|
|
|
Think of raw diets for pets like gluten free diets for people. There are few individuals who legitimately benefit from the diet due to disease or intolerance. However, there are many more that are on the diet because people have latched onto the diet as a fad and make up thingsto convince themselves and others that their choice is the right one. When those individuals feel better on the diet, it's because they tend to go onto higher quality food when they switch diets. As the diets attract the same groups of people, making poo poo up is second nature. I did some digging and found out the idea that processed food in cats leads to infertility. There was a study done in the 1940s by a human doc, Dr. Pottenger, who had 900 cats in feeding trials. One group was fed a raw diet, the others processed foods (no commercial diets - things like evaporated milk and cooked chicken). Inevitably the processed food cats did poorly. Thus, based on that study is where people get the information. The study's results were never coorborated (though some did try) - and today, most vets feel that the results of the study are that way due to the lack of taurine in the processed diet - but the information on what was fed was sorely lacking in the study. Basically, it was a bad study.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2014 22:48
|
|
|
You even see some of the premium processed commercial diets as having some pretty outrageous claims too. Orijen has a line that their high protein food helps dogs with kidney disease - which is pretty demonstratably wrong, but they say it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 18, 2014 01:32
|
|
|
DaisyDanger posted:Does anyone know how many calories are in Kirkland Signature Super Premium cat food? I can't find this info online anywhere. And how much should 3-month old kittens eat compared to an adult cat? I'm trying to be better about feeding my cats, but my 10-year old cat is overweight and my kittens are not. As soon as I can nail down how many calories are in the Kirkland food, I should be able to figure out how much wet and dry food to give all of them. Here you go, has dog ones too if you want. kcal = calorie for your purposes http://www.great-pet-supplies.com/kirkland-brand-pet-food Let kittens eat what they want. It is usually hard to make an overweight kitten. Once they're spayed/neutered follow adult recommendations then adjust accordingly depending on weight change.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2014 05:24
|
|
|
DrNutt posted:Yeah, it's not Meow Mix or Iams, but honestly going with a higher quality natural food (preferably grain free) will save you bunches when it comes to vet bills, time spent cleaning up cat vomit, potential skin and coat problems, etc. There is no evidence to say that a "higher quality natural food (preferably grain free)" is any better than any other food, or if they prevent any disease. Nutrition is an individual thing - if a cat does great on Kirkland, then great. If it doesn't, then Kirkland isn't the food for kitty. A lot of the "premium" foods are all about marketing and you need to wade through foods throwing stupid phrases at you like "human grade" "grain free" "all natural" etc. For cats, a good protein percentage is what is probably most important - Crooked Booty is better on that poo poo than I am. If you want to feed your cat Kirkland, go for it. If you want to feed it Wellness, Solid Gold, Iams, Hills, go for it. It always confuses me when clients say "But I feed them a premium food!" when I say their cat has some disease or other. Premium food isn't magical, regular foods aren't poison.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2014 15:16
|
|
|
MariusLecter posted:Sometimes I feed my cat Tigger cut up raw chicken when I'm preparing something instead of his cat food, am I on the road to Hell? As long as the primary diet isn't the chicken, no, treats are just fine. I wouldn't replace a meal with it more than once every 5 days or so just due to the rule of "treats should not exceed 10%." Papaya is fine.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2014 15:50
|
|
|
What you do depends on why she isn't eating it. It sounds like other than the decreased appetite she is doing just fine. If it is just that she's not a huge fan of the food - sometimes it is just because change is hard - you can stay the course and wait her out (she will eat when she's hungry), go back to the old food, or try something new. If she's not as active and energetic, or seems off, then maybe she's not taking to the new food well. Could be too fast a transition (some dogs can be rather sensitive), could be a sensitivity to something in the food itself. In that case, it is up to you whether or not you want to pursue a vet checkup (if vomiting or diarrhea occurs, I would recommend checking up) or to just assume it's mostly the first paragraph I spoke of and try that out first to see if things get better. Some people will add "flavor" or high value treats to new kibble to ease the transition - things like chicken broth or tiny pieces of chicken are common - but sometimes weaning off the special added stuff can be tough in its own right.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2014 04:08
|
|
|
Yup.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2014 16:13
|
|
|
Bananaquiter posted:Maybe it now has all the ingredients they claimed to have or not-have the first time around?  Blue Buffalo is doubling down that they're fine and Purina is just a big ol' meanie and even calling out Purina about their jerky treats in similar communications. Purina has yet to release the results they claim show that Blue Buffalo uses what Blue Buffalo claims it doesn't - one of the chicken byproduct meals (I think). I highly doubt that Purina would make poo poo up and possibly run into being actually called out on it. They would lose a whole heck of a lot if they did. Conversely, if BB is actually lying and has been for some time, they would lose a while heck of a lot as well.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 8, 2014 23:04
|
|
|
LorneReams posted:I ran out of hard food (I feed hard and soft), and this was on sale, but I don't see it in the approved list...is this an OK hard food? They pull the,"Grain free yay!!!" bullshit then add peas, potatoes, tomatoes, more potatoes, and pumpkin. I bet if they put all their ingredients together potatoes would be #1. This is a food that has hopped on the marketing bandwagon. More likely far more expensive than it is actually worth.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 15, 2014 15:17
|
|
|
On face value that stuff looks fine, though the articles posted above are certainly rather distressing. Personally, the biggest problem I have with that diet are all the scientifically invalid claims - better fertility, longer life, less disease, etc., has not been shown to actually occur on raw diets. The only research I've seen cited by raw food advocates are old studies from pre 1970, which tend to have many problems associated with the research done and the conclusions reached as compared to what happens in 2014. Who feeds their cats boiled chicken and powdered milk anyway? I'm pretty meh about garlic in pet food, and advertising "Vitamin C yay!" is dumb because dogs and cats make their own Vitamin C, and it's really only people (and some primates I think) and Guinea Pigs that need a supplemental source. I don't know if they're trying to use it as a preservative or what and just trying to make it look good in marketing. If you get Fancy Feast down there, then the Flaked Fish and Shrimp Feast is something to consider. It is drat high in protein (basically no carbs), good ingredient list, doesn't break the bank, and it's a different consistency to see if that what your cat wants: http://www.fancyfeast.com/gourmet-cat-products/wet-cat-food/flaked/fish-shrimp-feast
|
|
#
¿
Aug 20, 2014 05:27
|
|
|
Lovelyn posted:There's great advice here about raw cat food so I was hoping y'all could help me figure out if this is safe/advisable for my two indoor-only cats (ages 13 and 3). If they tolerate it fine and you nor anyone you expect to come in contact with the cats are immunocompromised, and you don't care about the extra cost, then go for it. Does it have a USDA certified organic thingy? I don't like their FAQ section (especially their part about how there's "debate" about the role of phosphorous and protein in advanced kidney disease) so I wouldn't buy their stuff because I don't like the company, but that's just me being silly.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 28, 2014 06:09
|
|
|
Lovelyn posted:Thank you so much for responding! They absolutely love the food. Re: immunocompromise, we are visiting my in-laws' cats this weekend, who are indoor/outdoor and likely not up-to-date on everything but otherwise healthy. I am still feeding my cats dry food in addition to the raw stuff - do you think that's enough to keep them safe? Nah, it's nothing to be vaccinated against, just bacterial growth on raw food. Most raw companies will proclaim loudly about third party bacterial whatever, and that may be true right as it is produced, but after it is transported (and may experience variable temperatures), dealt with at the store (with some temperature variation), and finally being purchased and brought home (with varying temperatures until back into a freezer) there is going to be bacterial growth. Most of the time a normal animal will be just fine. However, immunocompromised animals or people might be more susceptible to catching whatever bugs are on the food - which are then in the cat's GI tract/groomed onto the hair. AAFCO and vet nutritionists (or Crooked Booty depending on the day) are the ones who do the heavy thinking about the analyses. Looks fine briefly. I may go through it a little later. Edit: And if you happen to live in Arkansas and buy you Pedigree dog food from the Dollar store, there's a recall! (Of 22 bags) http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm411789.htm
HelloSailorSign fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Aug 28, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Aug 28, 2014 18:44
|
|
|
marchantia posted:
Sure, sounds fine. I'm generally a fan of more wet food in cats, but having them used to kibble might help later in life if they need a particular diet and kibble is one of the forms. Gives more options if they end up picky to a wet RX diet but will eat the kibble.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2014 23:25
|
|
|
melon cat posted:Does anyone know the quality of this cat food: Oven-Baked Tradition? Our cats got disinterested in the Taste of the Wild food we had them on, but they seem to love this stuff. But it's an unfamiliar brand. The general consensus is that more protein is better. On a dry matter basis, their regular diet has less than Friskies Grillers does (31.1% and 34.1% respectively), and less than TotW Salmon and Trout (35.5%) (just example diets I picked out). The ingredients are nice, sure, and if they like the food then why not use it. The "grain free" line of theirs looks like it has a good protein level, though. They've got AAFCO statement in their FAQ for "all their diets" for all life stages. All in all, not a bad looking diet, but I personally prefer larger pet food companies as then problems in production tend to be caught sooner - either more people are watching them, or there are enough animals on it where patterns can be seen more readily. Also they have some of the least stupid holistic/chemical/whatever myths on their site as gospel, so they don't make me  as much as other "holistic/premium" companies.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2014 05:32
|
|
|
Is there a reason you think it's not enough food? Are they underweight? If they're maintaining appropriate weight and condition off what they're getting now, there's no need to add more food. Don't make them fat.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 24, 2014 05:25
|
|
|
Crooked Booty posted:I'm not really sure why anyone would buy expensive, nutritionally-inadequate canned food intentionally. Marketing and hoping people don't actually read labels.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2014 05:59
|
|
|
Nah, breeders use the internet tons, it is where they get their information from. There's no quality control on the information, so as long as someone has the credentials of watching two dogs hump for ten years of their life then that person must therefore be all knowing. The red rocket... shows you things... 
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2014 07:24
|
|
|
Nothing wrong with just dry in a dog. I am not a fan of giving bones to dogs - many posters here feel otherwise, so they can give you their opinion. What is better for dental health is getting your puppy used to being handled around the mouth so that you can brush their teeth daily with minimal fuss.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2014 04:00
|
|
|
Hey look, Natura did a dumb and hosed up vitamin/mineral amounts and led to a recall! Dry cat and ferret food of the EVO variety, somewhat limited: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm424607.htm?source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery Natura, you're dead to me. Probably not, but still.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 26, 2014 08:06
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 15, 2024 16:15 |
|
|
Does Nulo have a veterinary nutritionist on staff, or at least one who helped with ingredient design? So far things sound interesting - if they also donated to help animal nutrition research they would quickly jump my "good company" list.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2014 06:41
|
|